Researchers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) created this 3-D visualization that shows water flowing past an airfoil that approximates a ship's hull. The simulation of breaking waves, spray sheets and air entrainment plays a key role in the design and operation of naval combatants. As a ship progresses through water, steep, breaking waves are formed. Spray is shed along the crests of the breaking waves and also near the ship's bow, where thin sheets of water form. Air is also entrained along the turbulent face of breaking waves and along the contact line where the free surface, which is the interface between the air and water, intersects the hull. These phenomena are among the most challenging problems in computational fluid dynamics today.

TACC is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), The University of Texas at Austin, UT System, and grants from other federal agencies. As a leading resource provider in the NSF XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment) project, TACC is one of 11 centers across the country providing leadership-class computing resources to the national research community. To learn more, visit the TACC website Here. (Date of Image: 2005)

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